Well, it’s getting to be that time of year again: the bi-yearly-ish shake-up of DC Entertainment at Warner Bros. which has happened several times over the years ever since the franchise spun out early following the disappointing release of “Batman Vs. Superman.” Yes, it looks like it’s happening again. Following the $43 billion deal that recently closed when Discovery bought Warner Bros., the newly minted Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is said to be setting his sights on the DC Comics franchises and up-ending things again.
Variety reports on how Zaslav is hoping to mend fences in the company while also putting together a division that can actually compete with the Disney-owned Marvel Studios, which has become a box office and streaming juggernaut. That means overhauling DC Entertainment yet again (we’ve lost track of how many leadership positions it’s been through in the last decade). According to the report, Discovery execs are looking to build a more cohesive company that can compete with genre giants Marvel. One of the goals includes finding a creative/strategic czar similar to Marvel’s Kevin Feige, who can creatively manage and oversee the various worlds and make sure they have a cohesive content strategy akin to the way Disney+ is a two-way pipeline for Marvel Studios’ feature-length films (DC series, on the other hand, are all over the place, on The CW, HBO Max and has even licensed properties like “Sandman” to Netflix, for example).
READ MORE: The Snyder Cut Is The Past: Here’s The Full Future Slate Of DC Films & Series
These ideas have reportedly led Discovery brass to look at candidates such as Emma Watts, the former head of 20th Century Studios and Paramount Pictures. However, it doesn’t look like Watts will take the job, and Zaslav might simply hire someone that can make the various DC factions work harmoniously instead of hiring a “guru” to fix all their problems overnight.
Walter Hamada, the current head of DC Films, has a contract expiring in 2023 and could be an important aspect of these plans. Whatever the strategy ends up becoming, it doesn’t sound like Hamada will be shown the door (much to the chagrin of Snydercut fans who would love to see Zack Snyder return to oversee things creatively; not happening).
Zaslav and Discovery brass have a lot of ideas on the table, and unlocking the full potential of the DC Comics universe of characters seems to be a priority. While there have been successes at DC Entertainment, the report says Discovery execs believe that several top-shelf characters such as Superman need to be revitalized—the character played by Henry Cavill in the movies has laid dormant for years due to negotiation issues with the actor. Complicating matters, the upcoming “The Flash” is all set to reset DC history, essentially delete the Cavill version of Superman out of the universe and introduce Supergirl as the dominant and only Kryptonian character. Additionally, other Superman projects in the works, like the Val-Zod version from producer Michael B. Jordan, make those plans feel a bit more complicated (celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates is also developing his own separate Superman film).
The report also states that Discovery would love to see Todd Phillips’ “The Joker” as the blueprint of how second-billed DC characters from their extensive library can and should be exploited in the future.
As mentioned, a heap of DC films are in development stages at both Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max. However, given the new management, many of those yet-to-be-filmed projects could get tossed on the fire as the company figures out its new strategy moving forward. It’s unclear what, if anything, will ultimately happen, but if one of the goals is a coherent strategy and The CW has already been rumored to be up for sale, one strong bet could be losing that side of the TV business, which is already out of sync with what’s happening on HBO Max and shows like “Peacemaker.” J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot company has a multitude of projects quietly brewing like “Justice League Dark,” “Constantine,” and the aforementioned Superman project with Michael B. Jordan. But again, all those series and potential films are still in development and have not been formally announced. If they do not align with the vision that Discovery is trying to create, they could find themselves potentially thrown in the bin or having to be remade whole cloth.
This wouldn’t be the first time DCEU projects were thrown out when new management arrived. For example, at one point, there was a more severe and gritty iteration of “Suicide Squad 2” from Gavin O’Connor, a Jared Leto-led solo “Joker” film, and a Harley Quinn and Joker project in development. These projects were all discarded circa 2018 before a new era of leadership decided to go in a different direction. Stay tuned to hear what ends up happening and how certain films (‘Flash’ we’re looking at you) could be affected.
